To begin reading a poem, I believe that it is imperative to identify major indicators of meaning, this includes aspects of setting and topic, as well as the voice of the person dominating or directing your reading. This can be achieved by looking for a clue as to the identity of the narrator, is it coming from a feminine or masculine point of view? "The Black Art" comes from a feminine point of view, the narrator is clearly female. The first stanza refers to women, "a woman who writes feels too much," this stanza is ended with the key line "Dear love, I am that girl". The u

The words used in a poem and their literal meanings are not the only way to decipher what the poem is about. The diction, intonation and nuance of the phrases in the stanzas can convey to the reader the attitudes to it's subject. A reader can take the words for face value or take a closer look to see if the author has meant these words to have a different connotation.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Black Art, Dear Love, , black art, male subject, dear love, dear love girl, talking talking male, talking male subject, male subject stanza, reader author, stanza eg, subject stanza, poem black, line writer, author established, meaning poem, poem black art,
Approximate Word count = 954
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)